#and all the classic yellow red ones ofc

[absoluteabsolem]

okay guys i'm having a brainrot on my way to work about goncharov bc of all your sexy meta posts but i haven't seen a single one talking about the flowers in this film so indulge me

so i'm a florist right ? my n°1 passion when i watch a movie or a show is to trashtalk the flowers bc 99,9% of the time they look like shit. like. i made better arrangements during my first year of training. it makes me sad. yes goncharov is a brilliant film in itself but it gets a whole star just for the fucking flowers (i can't find the florist in the end credits if anyone knows pls tell me ??)

like we're talking thierry boutemy in marie-antoinette (2006) levels of artistry. all the arrangements are so BEAUTIFUL and i'm gonna talk about them. it will ofc mostly be about katya lmao bc men yet have to express themselves through delicate floral jewellery (i wish they did though. i am waiting). katya doesn't have that many lines for a main character but her presence and the colours speak for themselves. sorry i'm on mobile i don't have any pictures

alright so of course you have the wedding. everything is so fucking opulent it's a cascade of wealth you have almost no foliage at all except eucalyptus and that shit is expensive. there are more peonies than you could ever count and the roses are soooo beautiful (i think most of them are juliet peach roses but i can't be 100% sure) like. i could smell it from my couch it was as if i was there aaaa the fucking wax flowers and scabiosas i love scabiosas so much !! and the perfect balance between flowers of different sizes !!! it was wonderful i mean you've seen them

but what i love about these arrangements is that they're all in white and yellow. it's an unusual combo for a wedding even if white is a classic wedding colour in western cultures and yellow isn't so weird at the heart of summer. yellow is however also the colour of jealousy and betrayal and idk if you ever noticed but andrey's boutonniere is the ONLY ONE that is just yellow. you don't have the white carnation (associated with love. screaming) on it like everybody else. also note that katya's bouquet is only white which is all about purity elegance etc. i do think however that the colours of andrey and katya's flowers on that day are more about the way goncharov feels about them at that point in the story, rather than their own feelings.

we also see katya wear several decorated combs in her hair throughout the film (idk enough about hair stylism to comment of the haircuts themselves so i'll stick to the flowers). the first we see are pretty simple and not rly noticeable, white and pastel pink, typical discreet but feminine stuff. p much like the rest of her wardrobe up until the boat scene where things get interesting.

this is where katya meets sofia who is wearing that rly fucking gorgeous burgundy (ambition, power and wealth) dress and look i know monica bellucci can wear anything and be beautiful but fucking hell. i mean i'm gay but i briefly questioned myself for a second there. anyway. the boat shenanigans happen and once katya goes back home and pretends she didn't almost get fucking killed, the flowers in her hair are burgundy. i mean i know we have the fruit market a bit later but the comb is what sold me on that ship. i see you katya

when she almost shoots goncharov (if we were rly in love you wouldn't have missed AAAAAAA i'm normal) she has a super pretty mix of blue hydrangea/eucalyptus in her hair. blue is the colour of control and tranquility and i thought it was very sexy of her. she still has them when sofia leaves her and i love how you can see the tears about to fall down her cheeks but she doesn't allow it. things got out of hand but she's not willing to lose control of herself in front of sofia and i think ultimately it's what fucked things up between them but i try not to think about it too hard

what DOES however keep me awake at night is that martin scorsese rly thought it was okay to have red bouquets everywhere made in the exact style of goncharov and katya's wedding in goncharov's home when andrey shows up to kill him. i mean the subtext isn't even subtext at this point it's like saying point break isn't gay but the flowers are the fucking cherry on top. andrey shoots him and he doesn't miss because he loves him and in case you're too dense to understand that here is a decadent display of red and burgundy. it is the colour of love it is the colour of violence and in their case one simply does not go without the other and i am so fucking normal about this

[lumilasi]

I wanted to draw something more worthwhile today, but due to utter lack of proper sleep for past 3 days + resulting severe mental health drop, I only managed to doodle some NCP lore relevant stuff. I've mentioned the Overshadowers Council in some posts, but there are other important governing bodies, such as the Arcane Council, they handle the matters of primary magic users.

(I.E beings who otherwise would just be humans, though non-human beings also ofc learn magic that might be outside of their "natural" type, in those cases deciding which of the five groups they fall under is just trickier sometimes, and often they are already governed by another body)

I picked 5 main categories even though I do know there are plenty more, I just wanted to keep the scope fairly limited for the time being as this is just world BG lore. How I defined each is somewhat loosely inspired by D&D, but has more of my own twist on things so its not exact. Also picked a character to represent each category lol

For the Sigils, I decided to only use one of them to show examples of how they work, I just didn't have the energy to do all 5

More info below:

It is VERY rare for a magic user to be able to claim two titles and requires some very specific circumstances. Currently, the only known person who is technically both a Sorcerer and a Warlock is Azul Samaros/Chester Knight

Technically, Soul Eaters could be considered the most ancient Warlocks there are, but given their power is so inherent to them by now beyond just channeling something, they are classified as their own thing by now.

Sorcerers/sorceress' are the most powerful magic users, whereas Mages are considered the weakest, given their abilities tend to be highly specific.

In case of a nonhuman being with natural magic learning something beyond that, their matters are mostly still handled by their own governing body, unless the situation specifically relates to this learned magic.

Characters shown in the post: 1.Beatrice (Forest/plant witch) 2. Janus (Summoner mage/has some wyvern heritage so he can use fire) 3. Reuben (Fire Elemental) 4. Angus (Blood sage Warlock) 5. Iris (Astral Sorceress)

The name of each sub-branch are as follows: Witch Covenant, Mage Ward, Elemental Hive, Warlock Guild, and Sorcerer Senate

While Franziska Belmont (A character in NCP) Is known as a "Cat witch" by humans (or sith-cat) she does not fall under the governance of the Arcane Council, given she doesn't have any magic powers that aren't natural-born skills for her.

The governing body is largely democratic, though when it comes to voting for the members of the individual branch, only those part of the said branch can do so. (witches can only vote in covenant elections, Warlocks in the Guild election, etc).

Every magic user listed as the Arcane member however, can vote for any candidate for the Arcane Council itself.

ABOUT THE SIGILS:

Witch symbol: inspired by lavender flower, which is associated with mystery, magic and spiritualism among many other things, also in the shape of a star, which is also a classic magic symbol

Mage symbol: a torch and a common portayal of a soul as a ball of flame, referencing the fact basic magic exists within everyone, even if they cannot use it. Blue because I needed the full rainbow lol

Elemental symbol: Life tree, as reference to how life is formed and shaped by the basic elements. Green because nature reference

Warlock symbol: Spooky spiky starlike shape with eyes and blades, because Warlocks often do stabby spooky stuff, and ofc red because blood. 3-spikes as to reference mind, body, and soul.

Sorcerer symbol: A Hourglass with the infinity symbol, because magic is "eternal" in the eyes of the people, and this is also often the most ancient type of magic people can utilize. Golden yellow to give off a "regal" feel. (They are often seen as sort of "nobility" among magic users and held in high regard/feared the most depending on the power's themes)

OTHER CHARACTERS FROM NCP THAT ARE SPECIFICALLY MAGIC USERS/HAVE LEARNED MAGIC OUTSIDE THEIR NATURAL POWER:

Witches: Yume, Clover (male witch)

Mages: Miriam, Adam (He is a chesire cat who has learned illusion magic on top of his basic abilities) Lionel (He's also a chesire, has learned exorcism magic)

Elementals: Currently none apart from Reuben

Warlocks: Marci, Azul

Sorcerers: Azul (his primary type), Thalia

[absent-o-minded]

*Rises from the Grave*

It's Young Royals S2 First Look Pictures analysis time, cherubs.

THE ROWING MACHINE PICTURE:

Firstly, I wasn't expecting a picture like this even in my distant hypothetical S2 Sneak Peak releases, I don't think anyone was really, but it's really interesting. I've seen on Twitter and Instagram that Netflix have used the word "Revenge" a lot, and I think that this picture could tell us why - Even though Wille, Simon and the other 3 Hillerska lads are centre frame, they're pitted against a mirror, and if you look to the far right (right circle), there's another character wearing red, and in the distance (far-left circle), it looks there are spectators.

Maybe what could be happening is a small sub-plot of Wille potentially becoming a second rowing captain of an opposite team (Hence the two differing rowing gear colours of Green vs Red) as means of trying to exert "revenge" on August, bc if the Monarchy won't help him, and August goes without repercussions, then Wille is on his own, and so, he could (maybe) target the one thing he knows is significant to August; His authoritative position as Rowing Captain. Here, Wille presents a challenge that through the eye just appears as a civil opposition shrouded in sportsmanship, but indirectly, it serves as a subtle step, taken by Wille, to oppose August's social position. (I would go into catering towards typically masculine forms of competition and how gender convention could play into the classic trope of a Revenge arc, but I'll save that for another time.)

Also just a quick add on - New character on the far left? Hmmm...

THE CLASSROOM PIC:

Ofc the class is reading, all with their heads down, and Wille is just looking at Simon, because he is what? Whipped! And ofc I'm going to talk about colour in this picture because I am what? Sad!

For me, here, the presence of colour theory relies on the contrast between Pastels v Darkness (or really, De saturated v Saturated). Despite purple being a consistent motif for Simon's costume through S1, and even if we assume that, through the passage of time, Simon has now integrated into Hillerska society, he is still aesthetically differentiated from his peers through his clothing - Most of the characters surrounding him are wearing pastel colours (i.e purples, pinks and yellows) and yet he has a dark green shirt over a deep purple. So, maybe this just further entrenches Simon's struggle in regards to finally cementing himself in the elitist environment, especially after the leak.

But also, something else should be noticed - Wille wearing pastel purple. In the previous season, Wille's costume was mainly comprised of deep reds/burgundies, blues or destaurated greys, and yet here, he visually looks different (not just the hair btw). Not only does he still parallel his peers, solidifying his connection to the Hillerska society, but now he also parallels Simon, mimicking the colours he wore throughout S1, so maybe this is a subtle visual hint at Wille attempting to reconcile with Simon.

Bonus: They're sat next to eachother :') I can't remember if we ever saw Wille and Simon physically sat directly next to eachother in class before!

THE ROYAL DINNER PIC:

Now here is some juicy cinematography.

Here, the camera lens is bracketed by the presence of the doors, and so the lens itself is personified and, despite not being invasive on the family dinner, the overall placement of the camera as situated within the doorway serves as an insight into Wille's Christmas (likely indicated from the fact that it's snowing etc). As always, I could be wrong, because the time-skip could be from the end of S1, skipping past Christmas and onto the new School year, but I think it would be interesting to see what Wille's Christmas would be like.

Not just this, but given their differing expressions, the cinematography further relates to Wille's entrapment - The audience are passive, we're not allowed to enter the room and so our empathy rests within an observational position. Wilhelm clearly looks out of place and dejected, whilst The Queen and his Father look content.

But also, notice how there are only three chairs? And whose facing/in the position of the missing chair? The camera is. Already, Wilhelm has adopted the new Crown Prince persona, and so the absence of Erik is elevated bc not only does the dinner exist at a partial distance, but there is no remnant of Erik anywhere, not even an empty chair, or a picture of him.

Not at all making me upset on how out of place and unsupoprted Wille feels by his own family but hEY HO ANYWAY-

FELICE AND WILLE PIC:

I. Love. Silhouettes. And. Light.

The prospect of Felice being a more prominent character in the narrative, let alone in Wille's story, is slskls so exciting - Especially the thought of elite Felice x Wille friendship duo.

I'm guessing that there has been a change of Wille's room/Wille now sleeps in the other bed because S1 his bed was always in the right hand-side of the room, but this is cool ! Especially if you consider it along the idiom of "growing too big for your bed" and Wille's newly given title/ position in the Monarchy. I mean, even if you look at the visuals, everything appears to be minimalist and stripped of any indicative personality; The red LED lights are no longer here, we can't see the Frog snowglobe, or a bedside table, all we're given is a shelf with some (what look like) deodorant cans and a simple light. It's as if in order to become more like a Crown Prince, Wille had to, little by little, become less like Wille.

But I have hope! If you look at where the light is placed there are a few things that could be said: 1.) Felice is deliberately placed closer to it in an attempt to illustrate her significance. Perhaps here she is consoling, offering comfort to Wille, and so she becomes this 'beacon' of wisdom (tbf I would trust Felice with my life soooo...), 2.) It highlights the void of the space, and further broadens on the sense of "absence" as a dip in the covers is visible, perhaps mirroring Wille's dialogue if its about Simon, or about how lonely he was over the Christmas break, 3.) Their silhouettes. The presence of their shadows was not necessarily needed in this scene, but it was included, and maybe I've been too deprived of content and I'm reaching here, but it's the externalisation of their beings, and could serve as foreshadowing for their blossoming friendship. So, maybe Felice and Wille try to help eachother this season, which would be lovely !

This is pretty much just me begging for Wille and Felice to form the #BestiesAgainstAugust duo for nothing else than my own fulfilment.

These aren't all of the photos, but these are the ones that I initially had the most to say about. I'll likely talk about the others soon, though ! Let me know what you think ! <3

[megamindsupremacy]

Do you have any Spiderman fic recs? (Preferably not MCU but. I'm not picky)

YES ofc. Let me dig through my bookmarks for some. Warning- most of them will be Team Red fics because that’s where I interacted most with the Marvel fandom back in the day. Also, coming back after making this, unfortunately most are at least a little bit MCU influenced but I tried to stay away from the tropier/irondad/ooc fics

-

Inimitable by deniigiq

“Peter, is it supposed to be doing that?” One of his students asked him. He looked up to see the industrial-strength magnets he’d collected for this lab trying to crack through the glass between them to be reunited. The glass splintered.

“Yeah, no. That’s totally fine,” he lied. Then he inconspicuously chased everyone to the corner of the lab, donned a glove, and smashed the glass so that it wouldn’t splinter and stab someone in the eye in its explosion.

His students cheered.

He needed a drink.

(Peter gets called back to the city at the age of 25 to help mitigate the rapidly increasing crime rate. He's in way over his head, so he sets out to re-establish Team Red.)

(Classic Team Red fic, this author got me into the fandom years ago and I’ve been stuck since)

-

Say You Will, Say You Won’t by Traincat

Johnny Storm found him on a Friday afternoon, wearing the kind of beseeching look that filled Peter with dread.

“I need to ask you a favor,” he said.

“No,” Peter said, swinging away.

__

Peter and Johnny get married, really-not-really.

(A classic Spidertorch fic, absolutely hilarious and not even a little bit MCU-touched)

-

Peter Parker: Legend of Empire State by Popjeckdoom

There was a dorm room, at the end of the third floor hallway on the male side of student housing, that was a mystery to all the students of Empire State. #339, Peter Parker.

The dorm itself wasn’t strange. It wasn’t haunted or cursed in any way, or as far as anyone knew. The door looked like everyone else’s; a doodle of Spidey on the whiteboard, a random scratch at the bottom left corner of the door, likely from someone moving in, etc. What made this ordinary room into a legend was it’s mysterious inhabitant, whom many believed did not even exist.

Peter Parker. The Criptid of Empire State.

(Technically incomplete, but it’s a series of oneshots so do with that what you will)

-

Dumpster Fires Verse by deniigiq

Peter and May receive a notice to vacate.

The other guys on Team Red have been there before, they offer a bit of advice.

(Another deniigiq classic, it’s a series of interconnected fics that don’t need to be read together to make sense)

-

Can you hear the drumming? (there’s a revolution coming) by Crescent_Blues

"You know how to throw a punch?"

Peter stops fidgeting and his heartbeat slows as he breathes deep and forces it to calm. The endorphins aren't quite there yet but he can almost taste the excitement, the hopefulness. Like carmel, like yellow, like tacky sweetness.

"Don't tuck your thumb into your hand and keep your wrist and arm straight?"

He has the basics.

That's a good start.

Right?

(Matt accidentally acquires one Peter Parker at the ripe old age of eleven and becomes the mentor he never wanted to be)

(This one comes courtesy of my friend Moon, who will kill me if he knew I was reccing his fic, but the writing style and quality is top notch so I refuse to stop. Also incomplete, but there’s 160k words before you get to the end so there’s a lot to read)

-

Peter Parker’s Home for the Wayward Villain by BeanieBaby

A really long redemption story.

(Another classic, Peter buys a house and adopts+reforms like 90% of the Marvel villains)

-

Roundabout by Gruoch

“Are you being killed right now?” Tony asks. “Am I listening to your final moments?”

“Maybe,” Peter chokes out, weakly pedaling his legs in the air while he futilely scrambles to pry the hand away from his throat.

Tony releases a sharp huff, irritated. “You are absolutely not allowed to die right now. Your graduation is a month away. Pepper’s moved around all her meetings to be free that day, and I’ve already given the deposit to the catering company for your party. I can’t get it back if I have to cancel now because of your untimely demise.”

***

In which Peter attempts to survive long enough to graduate, Tony moonlights as a semi-professional party planner, and absolutely nothing goes according to plan.

(This one is just. Peter Parker’s terrible horrible no good very bad day but in the best way)

-

Spider Season by selador

Peter Parker is Ben Urich's intern at the Bulletin. He's alright, as far as interns go. Bad coffee, but he fights crime bosses who want Ben dead. That wins a lot of points with Ben, that's for sure.

(Mostly follows the plot of DD s1 but still a great fic)

-

WHAT sugar daddy(s)??? By o1nm

"I've never really thought about it," Peter sniffs, gazing sadly into his mostly empty cup. "Maybe uh... maybe somebody who buys me milkshakes whenever I want? I don't know."

MJ's eyebrows twitch minutely. "Really?"

"Yup," Peter says lightly, "really," despite the fact that he feels like he just signed some sort of demonic treaty. "Hey, do you think we could circle back and -"

"I'll go get you another," MJ tells him as she snatches his previous milkshake, dropping it in a trashcan on her way as she sashays back to the ice-cream store.

...Weird.

(*slaps roof of Peter* this boi can fit so much autism in him. But honestly he’s so oblivious throughout, it’s amazing)

-

Always Glad You Came by aloneintherain

Spider-Man is a relatively new, controversial vigilante, and Johnny has a crush the size of the Empire Building. The Four - operating under the assumption that Spidey is an adult - do not approve.

“I just happen to think Spider-Man's cool,” Johnny says, matter-of-factly. “A hero can think another hero is cool without making it weird. I admire his aloofness. And his badass-ness.”

“His aloofness,” Ben repeats, chuckling into his mug of beer. It’s roughly the size of Johnny’s head. “Yeah, sure, I bet that’s all your admire, right?”

(Another Spideytorch classic, with So Many Misunderstandings it’s amazing they can walk straight)

[youremyheaven]

Amal Clooney: Kibbe Analysis

So far in the few Kibbe posts I've made I've discussed mostly about Theatrical Romantics & Soft Dramatics. This was primarily driven by the fact that people tend to undertype these IDs wayyyy too much and gloss over all the attributes that determine someone's ID & essence.

With that said, I thought it would be interesting to analyse someone whose ID I've never really discussed before.

Amal Clooney is a Pure Dramatic (also simply known as Dramatic).

She's 5'8.5 and appears even taller, she has a long vertical line. She has a very narrow build. Her body is not wide nor is it curvy. She has a very sharp, very Yang build.

Look at her in all these above outfits, she looks awful in those low rise jeans, she does not have the frame of a Natural so the ill fitted red dress looks awkward and clumsy on her. The gold lame dress is too drapey and she's too statuesque for it to work on her. The red frilly gown is something that would flatter a Romantic but it looks off on her.

These are some outfits that look very harmonious on her. They are super tailored and structured and cater to her Dramatic lines and essence.

the B&W top & pencil skirt looks good even though Dramatics are advised to not mix & match because its very tailored and well fitted.

the flapper dress is not flowy or drapey, it has a very structured silhouette and looks good on her

ofc the pantsuit looks amazing af because its very tailored and well fitted and is a complete head to toe look without any line breaking

this yellow look she wore to Prince Harry's wedding is probably one of my all time fav looks on her. Solid color, head to toe ensemble, thats the perfect length and very well tailored. stunninggg<3

these two dresses are too flowy and not tailored enough to be flattering on her

but look at these!!

she's pregnant in the yellow fit so that's all the tailoring she could manage but its a very structured outfit and it looks better on her than something soft and slouchy

this all white look is my FAV look on her simply because its sooo harmonious on her. it caters to her proportions, the color flatters her, the structure and silhouette flatter her. all in all its a perfect look.

She has Classic, Dramatic & Romantic essence imo

meanwhile look at these awful outfits 🤡

that short floral print dress is a NO-NO, its too girly, too short and the weird tutu type skirt line entirely unflattering on anyone who isn't a Gamine

those leather trousers are hideous but they also make her look bulky and the cut and style is just not for her narrow sharp Dramatic body that looks best in tailored, structured clothing.

the bottom row outfits 😭😭🤮should i even say anything? they dont flatter her at all. the fitting is wrong, the length is wrong, its altogether a MESS.

[the-anxiety-academy]

Ophelia (Fiona's pet Raccoon)

Fiona always loved raccoons, ever since she was little

She had plushies of them stacked on her bed (along with her shark plushies ofc)

Fiona didn't have any pet raccoons when she was younger

Only a couple hamsters and guinea pigs she never really cared about

It wasn't until after her accident (when she was 10) that she got her first pet raccoon

Fiona limped down the street to the ice cream shop around the corner, Double Dipp Icecream. She was leaning on her crutches as she made her way away from the pharmacy, where her father was collecting her antibiotics.

Her leg was infected once again, prolonging her recovery a couple more weeks. Her injury should have been healed by this point but too many complications put a stop to that.

Fiona somehow managed to convince her father to let her go down the road for an ice cream alone, an almost impossible task. After a while of pleading and bargaining, Felix caved giving her the money for the treat.

And it was now, as she gradually made her way to the shop, that she saw a lump in the road. On closer inspection, she realised it was an animal, from what she could tell it was a raccoon. A quite odd raccoon but a raccoon all the same.

Unlike most, this one was a light yellowish-white with notes of the classic grey pattern. Most of its body was the light yellow-white besides its back, which had a grey and brown pattern, and its tail.

Fiona also noticed it had a light grey mask over its eyes, the usual markings of a raccoon. But the girl also noticed as she got closer, a red stained the raccoon's fur. Blood.

Quickening her pace, Fiona reached the lump, looking both ways before she entered the road. Luckily, the little thing was close to the curb so the blonde could reach it relatively safely.

Fiona paused when she realised the blood was coming from its right side, specifically its right leg. Like hers.

She looked up and down the street again before leaning down to pick up the raccoon, cringing at the pain in her side.

The helpless thing, almost unconscious, tried thrashing around to get out of her arms, attempts of hissing came along as well. But, ultimately, it was too weak to put up a real fight.

Quickly crossing the road, Fiona carried on down the street past the ice cream shop and round the corner. She didn't know much about the area but she remembered seeing a veterinary as they drove down.

Her memory was proven correct when she continued down the pavement and spotted the practice a couple buildings down. When she rushed through the entrance, the receptionist looked up in confusion when she saw no one over the desk. The lady jumped back when a pair of hands appeared over the desk, plopping down the injured raccoon in front of her.

The woman peered over the desk to a small girl with a crutch, "Please help her.".

After Fiona had found the raccoon and taken it to the vet, the poor animal was taken back to be examined

When Felix realised his daughter hadn't come back like she'd promised he started panicking

He went to the ice cream shop to see if she was there, his panic only grew when he realised she wasn't.

He was this 🤏 close to calling the cops when the man behind the counter told Felix he saw her walking past the store with what he could only assume was some kind of animal.

The man suggested going to the vets to see if she took the animal there

When he was told this, Felix rushed down the street to the veterinary

When he found her there he was soo relieved but also upset that she left, while she was injured, and picked up a wild animal

Felix tried taking Fiona out of the building but she was having none of it

Felix insisted the raccoon would be fine and it was not their responsibility but Fiona desperately wanted to stay and keep the vermin

He was hearing none of it, continuing to try pull her out the door

It wasn't until Fiona started crying and begging him to let her keep it that he started to break

The small girl started to sniffle as she pulled back on her father's arm in a desperate attempt to stay in the vets.

Felix snapped his head to the small noises, momentarily stopping his pursuit. Fiona squeaked and sniffled as she clung to his hand, "Please" sniffle "please let me keep her" sniffle "she's like me".

Felix could hardly hear her squeaky, croaky voice over her sniffs and catches of breath. The man didn't exactly know what she meant by that but he cracked as he saw his 10 year old in such a state.

He wasn't pleased with the idea of a wild animal near his daughter but watching her like this hurt him

He allowed her to stick around long enough to see the raccoon after it was bandaged up.

When they both went into the back room, Felix realised what she had meant

The raccoon had a bad injury on its right back leg similar to Fiona

The doctors said it was probably from a fight and the little thing had been left there

With much persuasion (and a few pulled strings), Fiona managed to convince her father and the veterinarian that she wanted her

---

When Fiona brought the raccoon home, she kept her in her room

Feeding her leftovers and trying to domesticate the once wild animal

Felix even got in a trainer to help her out

The raccoon was a 2 year old piebald female, who Fiona promptly named Ophelia

The two became inseparable

They share Fiona's food, play in the treehouse, even sleep in Fiona's bed together every night

They have their own little routines every day

Fiona can't sleep without Ophelia next to her and the night when she explained the incident to the Belcher children, she actually brought Ophelia with her to sleep

Linda was obviously overjoyed along with the kids, Bob was hesitant about having an animal in the house but with some persuasion, he was pushed over

Fiona and Ophelia have a stronger connection than most

Fiona found it quite difficult to get back to school after the incident, not just because of her trauma but because she would have to leave Ophelia

The raccoon became a kind of trauma support animal after a little while

Fiona's reasoning behind getting her is enough to prove that

After rescuing her Ophelia, Fiona wanted more raccoons

Felix was very hesitant about it but caved again for her

She went on to have loads of pet raccoons to her name but her favourite was first and foremost her first pet, Ophelia

[figsandphiltatos]

get to know me

i was tagged by the amazing @johaerys-writes, thank you so much!!! 

Share your wallpaper: my phone background is really dope artwork of arthur morgan from red dead redemption 2. the art is sooo pretty and i’m sooo lazy so i haven’t changed it even though i haven’t played the game in months lmao. my desktop wallpaper is just,,, a black screen. which is really messed up, but it glitched out and deleted my old wallpaper (which i don’t even remember rip) and,,, ya know, the aforementioned laziness

The last song you listened to: Morbid Stuff by PUP

Currently Reading:  i just finished the v1 titans run of comics (1999-2003)!!!! i literally can’t recommend it more, it was so fun ough. but i’m currently in that phase after reading something really good where you can’t read anything else because of the misery of finishing a good read. it’s rough. honorable mentions go to the copy of the great gatsby that my coworker has been trying to make me read,,, (i’ve gotten through an entire one (1) page of it, sorry steve), and buy back the secrets, which is an incredible fanfic that everyone who likes timkon should go read immediately or i’ll kneecap your closest friends and relatives <3 (also also also in the family of things by @deadchannelradio which is so incredibly amazing and even tho i finished it a while ago i think it should still count for this because everyone should also read it immediately, the kneecapping threat still withstanding ofc)

Last Movie: Batman: Year One (with @darkravenstag, can you sense a pattern in the media i’ve been consuming jesus christ)

Craving: tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo!!! (i’m broke)

What are you wearing right now: white soft sweatpants, my fluffy housecoat, and a shirt that says “i ❤️my gay cat” which was a birthday gift from @darkravenstag

How tall are you: last time i checked i was 5’4 but god knows if that’s changed by now (i doubt it), apparently that’s 162 ish centimeters 

Piercings: i have piercings in my ear that i got when i was like,,, four years old that are somehow still around god bless them. and i have a septum piercing. i really desperately want an industrial next

Tattoos: only one!!!!!!!!! it’s a neat little ouroboros but by god do i need more desperately

Glasses? Contacts?: nope, got that 20/20 vision, babey

Last drink: water (i honestly rarely drink anything but water)

Last show: i guess probably technically the mandalorian? it’s in the middle of its new season and @darkravenstag and i are watching it when it releases weekly :3

Last thing you ate: ice cream sandwiches,,, 

Favourite colour: i’m really bad at making decisions like this lmao. i don’t know myself well enough to know my own favorite color, if i’m tbhing. but a lot of different shades of blue are nice, and i like burnt orange and mustard yellow type vibes. green is also nice! so who knows

Current obsession: god i wish it weren’t obvious. to all the folks who started following me because of my greek myths stuff (and that includes you jo lmao) uhhhh sorry. greek myths were THE hyperfixation for like,,,, three or four years but dc comics is back in a big way. i simply cannot stop thinking about these little superhero guys,,,,

Unrelated Obsession: right now??? i’m not kidding when i say that dc comics has left me with literally no other computing space in my brain. like i’m at the stage of brain rot where having a conversation about something that isn’t dc related is a little bit hard,,,, it’s abysmal out here guys. but i’ll give a shout out to greek myths,,, when will my interest in the iliad and odyssey return from the war??? my brain basically works in two modes, which are dc comics nerd and pretentious classics obsessive, so eventually the classics hyperfixation will return but i couldn’t tell you when that’ll be 

Any pets: i have two cats!! their names are achilles and briseis and they are the worst little creechers but also god’s greatest gift to humanity (achilles is currently curled up in my lap purring his stupid little head off). they turn six this april!!! 

Do you have a crush on anyone: lol uhhh sure

Favourite fictional character: this is an incredibly mean question actually. you want me to pick a favorite son??? i am holding my hands over jason todd’s ears while whispering dick grayson,,, but also if we’re allowed to include ocs then rn everyone can get fucked because my baby wes is having a renaissance (in my head)

The last place you traveled: lmao the last place i traveled was back to my hometown (a small town in northern indiana) for the county fair this summer. the ice cream at the local ice cream stand is still the best in the country and i’ll die on that hill but yeah i’d kill to travel a bit more soon but probably won’t really travel until my sister’s wedding happens in georgia in october

tagging @darkravenstag @thrustin-timberlake @deadchannelradio @sarcasticbeanie and any other beloved mutuals (or followers!!) who wanna do this! it's fun, have fun!

[wearthegoldhat]

good nite fatties

We woke long before the sun and groped about in pitch darkness. For her 27th birthday M got electrocuted in the shower, her hands hurt first and then the tingling and then her entire body. So thankful V and I got put in a room with a furnace instead.

After breakfast we made our way down to the white Nile, flies thick around our heads. Chickens were tiptoeing in a line around the little yellow house like thieves and then scattered about the compound to announce the sun.

We were barely on our way when we came upon a lone male elephant just by the road, pulling leaves from the bush. We stopped to watch him watch us. The sun was rising behind him and he was so nearby. That he was so near, alive, moving moved me deeply. My heart was pounding.

At the gate we found our guide got snatched by an earlier group and we waited and waited for another one and finally A and M introduced a friendly guy in a turquoise shirt as our guide. I took one look and said, let us call him what he is: a random ass guy who is trying to catch a free ride to Kampala. E laughed so hard, but we were more and more convinced my theory was correct as the day continued.

So many giraffes. Water buffalo and gazelle things that looked like variations on reindeer. And a kind of much less elegant-looking gazelle thing. That one is ugly, sorry that is mean, but he looks like he got dropped when he was a baby. She wasn't wrong.

Lunch at the red chilli. Everyone sat on the picnic benches and I wandered back up to the shade and sat on the couch enjoying the view, listening to the world's worth of languages congregate for lunch around us.

Murchison falls is a voluptuous force of nature. Incredible power generated from so many tonnes of Nile being forced thru a narrow space between rocks just before dropping 43 m below. The spray of water quenched us in this heat. I felt so alive (ions? biophilia?), hiking and then standing still before the Nile and her lushness and effortlessness and rage. Our feet were covered in mud that sparkled with minerals. Once it dried it looked like they were smeared in sparkly gold eye shadow. I saw you standing there looking out and you looked so peaceful.

Back in car, after awhile everyone had fallen asleep or fallen introspective, windows down, driving our super custom through the thick forest. I put in my headphones and felt high on waterfall, motion, music, human interaction, and nothing to do after a really productive week.

Masindi has a public library. We drove around masindi in circles, pulling into every single petrol station and finding no petrol.

2 hours outside of Kampala and it’s been such a long miserable time in the car and all I want to do is pee and surgically shorten my spine.

The driver is definitely on some shit. He keeps stopping the car and disappearing every so often and we realized he's disappearing into washrooms at every other petrol station.

The second thing M got for her bday was super sick all of a sudden. As the sun was setting and the day cooling, she was burning up. Then the other vehicle broke down. So we were on the side of the chaotic road at night in a classic Kampala jam with A yelling into the phone at W who was mansplaining to her that he was sending us another car while she was trying to tell him, sure, but we won’t be there cuz we need to move and we’ve figured out our own way.

We ended up stuffing two super customs worth of people and luggage into one super custom, with suitcases tied to the roof and M lying across K’s lap. It was getting to midnight as we rushed to the clinic but we also didn’t want the super custom to overheat, struggling as it did up the hilly bypass. And ofc the driver stopped at another petrol station to use the washroom again. We started betting how long it would be until the next stop. 10 minutes, maybe 15. Once we got to the clinic he asked the staff where the washroom was and disappeared again. You can't make this shit up. There’s the five senses and a sense of urgency isn’t one of them.

I had a hunch that what M had wasn't malaria. The malaria pills have high efficacy, and symptoms of malaria look like the symptoms of many things, like Covid or a severe flu. When I lived in Nairobi I got sick a lot with similar symptoms and every time I got blood drawn for malaria it came up negative. My guess was she got a virus from that day she accidentally drank tap water. She’s been thru the the ringer: hornet stings, shower electrocution, and now a malaria scare. We would find out later that mango juice was the cure.

When we finally got into cycad guest house we were so exhausted V and I skipped dinner, got news that M tested negative, and then knocked out to the sound of a fan and those stupid bugs that sound like smoke alarms that have run out of battery.

[cherry-bomb-ships]

Hellooo so why don't you tell us about ur opinion on the different versions of Cortex and which one is ur fave and why? :3c (feel free to go into detail and gush to ur hearts desire 💖💖)

OH. OH GOD. Okay first of all THANK YOU BRIE COMING IN CLUTCH AS ALWAYS 💝💝💝💝💝💝 Second, if I actually seriously delve into ALL his various designs and give my opinions of them all, we're gonna be here all damn day so lemme just throw down some rambles off the top of my head and talk abt them from worst to best imo.

Okay, no question, if you know then you know what's gonna be the worst. Crash of the Titans has some absolute god AWFUL designs for EVERYBODY. Crash, Coco, Crunch, Tiny Tiger, Aku Aku, Uka Uka, I really REALLY do not like any of their designs, but dear LORD. He may have not gotten it worst but Cortex's design in CoTT is SO BAD. IT'S SERIOUSLY AS BAD AS PEOPLE SAY. And in all honesty I rate Mind Over Mutant veeeerrrry slightly above its predecessor only because the cutscenes were unique and 2D animated and that was kinda cute but still, designs were just as bad. NEEEXT.

Ohhhh man, ohhhh man second worse? Wrath of Cortex. WoC is an ugly, UGLY GAME, it's another one where honestly all the designs are BAD with poor Cortex being no exception 😭 Like you could say they had the excuse of struggling to develop Crash from the PS1 to the PS2 but like... they could have tried a little harder man idk. Just go fucking watch the first 2 minutes of the opening cutscene, it's actually awful, like it makes me scream in fear.

Okay if I had to put the original first 3 games anywhere I gues I'd put them here?? Smack-dab between the 3 worst and 3 best. When it's drawn on paper I really love his OG design from 1996, but of course the PS1 is so blocky lookin that it just looks outdated to me, like I can't even see it as Cortex, this is just polygons to me jhkdhjsk

Okay its all uphill from here babyyyyyy, the biggest challenge for me is deciding how I rank his designs between the N. Sane trilogy, Crash 4, and Twinsanity 🤔🤔🤔 It's really, REALLY hard to choose a "least favorite" between these three since they all have aspects between each other that I like and dislike (with the good definitely outweighing the bad ofc), but if I had to pick one I like slightly less than the other two.... I might actually have to go with the N. Sane Trilogy 😳 Like it just BARELY loses to the other two, and I think the reason for that is that they just leaned a little too hard into the details. Other than that I LOVE his design and the way he's animated in the NST, he's super expressive when he needs to be but still menacing which is something I LOVE abt the first 3 games, ESPECIALLY CRASH 2 UUUUGH 💘💘💘

Moving on, I think looking at SOLELY designs, and not characterization or animation or anything like that, Twinsanity falls into second place ever so slightly. I love a lot, and I mean a LOT about Twinsanity (most of that being Cortex related ehehe), but when looking solely at his design, I do think that they made him a lil too tall, and I do miss his gloves being yellow over the red that they changed it too instead. But other than that, ohhhhh my god this is such a PEAK Cortex design, I love his beady eyes and the thick black "eyeliner" and how his hair has a lot of sharpness to it and how this was the first game that portrayed the N on his head as a metal plate which is honestly an interpretation I like most, aaaah idk it's just a really good solid reinterpretation of his classic look while still keeping what was so great intact!! (Also I won't lie I took a LOT of inspo for R. Marie's design from Cortex's look in Twinsanity, and it wasn't until after I was done that I realized just how much they have in common visually.)

Whoooooo okay last but certainly not least is Cortex's design from Crash 4, and OH MAN this is a good one 💖💖💖💖💖💖 I think literally my only complaint is actually a quote from one of the artists who worked on the game who said that Cortex ended up being almost "too handsome" in Crash 4, and that's something I 100% agree with cuz WOWWWWW HE SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO LOOK THIS GOOD 😳💘😳💘😳💘 Like omg they didn't go too far on the details like the N. Sane trilogy did, his proportions are just right and his animations are so perfectly cartoony, his god damned EVIL SMILE which just looks SOOOO GOOD ON HIM, AAAAURGH FUCK MAN. IT'S REALLY GOOD 💖💘💖💘💖💘💖

Ok thats all haha sorry that this got so long, but keep in mind this was me doing my best to SUMMARIZE all my thoughts. I have a LOT more to say about each and every game, but I wanna maybe give all of those their own post someday soon. Either way thank you SO MUCH for the ask and you're welcome/I'm sorry hjhskjsb

[bunnywritesmarvel]

Okay I mean obviously your tattoo looks amazing(snakes and flowers, cool design, just beautiful💯)but mmm I’ve always been one for details Bunny and your outfit…goddamn. It’s giving like lowkey Steve with the white top and jeans just like classic y’know? But then a heavy dose of Eddie with the little rips in the jeans and the necklaces and the black belt and the chain and the bandana in the back pocket🤤sorry to creep Bunny but you’re fine as hell😭respectfully

HOLD ON ITS MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE OUTFIT, LET ME GIVE YALL SOME UP CLOSE SHOTS

also are u saying im a steddie love child 🥹🥹🥹 i love u sm

i got the jeans on amazon and i love how they fit, but getting them on over my ass is a struggle LMAO

ofc i had to add chains and the hanky bc yes i did my research on hanky code and yes its in my right pocket (eddies is in his left 👀)

i also pinned the little aztec gold coin from pirates of the carribean onto my pocket bc i love that movie and a belt to keep the chains from pulling my pants down LMAO

next were the rings and bracelets, i got the rings on amazon and all the bracelets from a pride parade. the beaded bracelet my cousin made me, it has my old pronouns on it but i still wear it bc i love it so much and my cousin is so sweet. the pink/blue/white says "protect trans kids" and "let trans kids play" the rainbow is for PrEP, an HIV prevention pill i think?? and the blue is for asfp, a suicide prevention organization.

the rings are just kinda for decor, the square one on my middle finger i bought from my tattoo shop, idk whats on it but it looks cool. then the wolf and thats all on my left. on my right is the thumb one, just some like leafy stuff ig?? the skeleton hand and then the grim reaper

i got the chain choker from walmart, idk where i got the amethyst tbh and the dog tag i got from my dad, he gave it to me before he was deployed to iraq for like 9 months. and my fitbit i use to track my workouts LMAO

the makeup is my absolute favorite part bc its the only look i do, i always go for the like messy, edgy look ig??? i saw the tutorial on tiktok and its the only look i do now i love it so much. its just a light purple all around, red along my lash lines with some yellow on the inner corner and outer edge of my eye. i coat my waterline in black eyeliner and i usually kinda make it messy and smudgy, and some mascara.

i love when the eyeliner gets smudgy so i just let it do what it wants lmao, usually ill do like primer, foundation, concealer, blush, highlighter, sometimes ill add fake freckles if im feeling spicy

[slightlydeceased]

would you rather have button that could change the colour of anything to what you wanted it to be but for half the population so we get another gold and white or black and blue dress situation that can't be explained away with colour theory, but it also turns on the sims 4 logic that if you feel smth too much you fucking die, OR have a hoard of strangely tall toddlers follow you around and you keep them because they basically irl minecraft dogs? you start out with one toddler and every time it bites someone it splits into two and you have 2 toddlers now, they're dressed like dinosaurs that are dressed like toddlers. explain yourself

probably the first one. I'd make it so the american flag is all of a sudden barbie pink cuz I think it'd be really funny to see all the alpha males have to explain why barbie pink is now a masculine color. and then the other half of the world has no idea wtf they're talking about because for them the flag is still red white and blue. also the classic yellow school busses would be turned green. ofc the getting so angry/embarrassed/excited that you just die would obviously be inconvenient but it would also be funny to see on a gravestone "died by laughing a little too hard." idk I guess if I ever got angry I'd just have to do some breathing exercises or take a nap or something so I don't die.

but the toddler this is really fun. I would love to have a bunch of little guys just walking behind me. if anyone said anything about them I would act like I have no idea what they're talking about.

[hintofelation99]

Batfam Favorite Outfits:

Dick:

A sleeveless crop top and joggers. Or a crop top with work out shorts. Or he’ll go topless with either pair of pants.

Basically either little clothing, or light, thin clothing. He’s pretty comfortable with showing skin. It’s one of the things he and Kori have in common.

He and Steph wear the brightest colors out of all the family members so usually they go shopping together.

Shopping with Steph has resulted in him having at least two rompers.

Babs

A nerdy t-shirt with a loose knit cardigan and high rise jeans.

She also usually wear zip up combat boots bc 1) they look cool and 2) fuck actually tying your shoes.

Babs always has a variety of glasses, right now her favorite are the rounded thick framed glasses with a turtle shell pattern.

Recently Steph got her into scrunchies and now Babs always has one.

Jason

A button up shirt with his favorite dark red sweater and gray pants, or nice jeans.

Honestly he wears they stereotypical lit nerd outfits.

He does really like being a bit dressier even in daily wear because it makes him feel more put together.

He usually carries a messenger bag with two books he’s currently reading, one of his all time favorite books, a notebook, some pens, first aid supplies, and a spare domino.

Tim

Tim has three favorite outfits for three different settings/frames of mind.

1) The CEO: a dark gray double breasted slim-fit suit with peak lapels. He usually wears this with a wine colored tie that Steph got him.

2) The Skater Kid: A t-shirt with ripped jeans, a bomber jacket (or flannel shirt), and vans. He’s always carrying his camera when he’s dressed like this and usually has his skateboard.

3) The Leave Me Alone Unless You Have Coffee: Hello Kitty PJ pants that Steph got him as a joke, one of Kon’s shirts, one of Dick or Jason’s hoodies, green lantern fluffy socks, and dinosaur slippers. His hair is always in a messy, half undone bun and he’s usually looking at a case file.

Cass

Slim high waisted double breasted dress pants, a collared, white, silk shirt, heels, and gold jewelry.

As she’s become more well known by the public Cass has developed a reputation as being extremely fashionable.

She and Dick have done several magazine covers together and are both known as fashion icons.

According to one article “Cassandra Wayne is the epitome of a modern woman. She effortlessly combines classic and contemporary to create jaw dropping looks that have fashionistas everywhere raving.”

Steph

Steph loves to wear yoga pants and Jason’s t-shirts. Bc of this Jason is constantly running out of t-shirts

She also loves rompers, like if she wants to look cute she goes for a romper. She loves them bc they bc she could kick someone’s ass in one without accidentally flashing people.

One thing Steph loves about being close with the Wayne’s is dressing up for galas. It’s not something she wants to do constantly but getting the chance to wear insanely fancy dresses every once in a while is super fun to her.

One time Bruce bought her a Cinderella style ball gown and she almost cried out of pure excitement. Then she punched Bruce and threatened to give him frosted tips in his sleep if he told anyone that she teared up.

Duke

Duke used to just be a t-shirt and jeans guy but as he and Jason have gotten closer he’s started to mimic his older brothers style.

Right now he like to wear a button up shirt with a cardigan and dark wash jeans.

His favorite cardigan is a yellow button up that Jason gave him.

He’s almost always wearing converse, they’re just his go to shoes.

Damian

Damian used to only wear dress pants and nice shirts (outside of training ofc) because Talia was strict and said his clothes should reflect his status.

But after becoming friends with Jon he started to loosen up and wear clothes that he actually wanted to wear.

Nowadays his favorite outfits consist of joggers, a plain v-neck, and a pair of Adidas.

Another outfit that he loves but will never admit to loving is a pair of joggers, Adidas, and the ‘High School Musical’ t-shirt that he stole from Jon.

---------------

For @abdefgijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

[nashibirne]

London Calling - 2

So, guys...I know it took me a while but here it is. Part 2 of Bodyguard! August and his adventures in London. I hope there are still some people out there who want to read this. Enjoy and let me know what you think! Every single comment/reblog/like is very appreciated 💜

Pairing: August Walker x ofc (Lucretia "Lu" Johnson)

Words: ~ 3.2

Summary and A/N: This story plays with the thought of "what if…" What if August Walker had taken another road? What if he had turned into John Lark for completely different reasons? What if he had found love before becoming a bitter, disillusioned man?So the events of "London Calling" take place about ten years prior to MI:Fallout and August Walker hasn't joined the CIA yet, he's an FBI Agent and his new mission in London that lies ahead of him is going to be a challenging one. Maybe it's even going to change his life.

Find the previous chapter and my other fics here: Nashi's Masterlist.

Warnings: 18+! This story deals with the topic of a toxic/abusive relationship, gaslighting and problematic behavior of one of the protagonists in general. Please don't read if these topics trigger you or make you feel uncomfortable.

English is not my mother tongue but the lovely @sillyrabbit81 was so kind to be my very helpful and patient Beta! Thank you so, so much, bunny 🐇💜 (Edited by me, so there might still be mistakes and they're all mine)

Credits/Disclaimer: I don't own August Walker or anything related to MI:Fallout. Pics for the moodboard from pinterest, face claims: Lu - Hannah van der Westhuysen, Adam - Freddie Thorpe. FaceApp helped me with making August look a little younger.

Ready? Let's go!

*********

"John Lark," Adam said to Lu, who was sitting opposite of him at the dining table, having a coffee and some fruits for breakfast. He grinned and rolled his eyes. "What a boring name. Let's hope he has a boring personality as well and likes staying in the background just like poor old Eddie."

Lu shook her head with a sad smile. "I still can't believe he's dead. I mean, one moment he's alive and kicking and then he misses a red light and is six feet under."

"He should have been careful, baby. He was an idiot anyway. Please don't tell me you liked the old grinch." Adam ran a hand through his light brown hair and gave her a surprised glance.

"I did like him and he wasn't old, not even 50. He was a nice guy, always friendly and helpful." She leaned back in her chair with a sigh and looked out of the large windows that gave a fantastic view on the Thames and the city of London.

"Did you fuck him?"

Lu froze at the coldness in his voice, that sent icy shivers down her spine.

"Of course not, I…I would never...he wouldn't have..." She stared at the man she was going to marry in just a few months, eyes wide, lump in her throat, feeling offended and unsettled by his accusation.

Adam burst out laughing. "You should see your face, Lu," he chuckled with a big grin on his attractive face. "It's hilarious, you're so easy to lead on, darling. It's really cute how naive you can be. That's exactly the reason why I have to look after you by the way. People take advantage of you but no one fucks around with Adam Mayfield." He gave her a wink but she knew he wasn't just teasing her, he meant it. Lu forced a grin, trying to relax and regain her composure by taking a deep breath. Getting serious he reached over the table and took her hand, pressing a tender kiss on her knuckles. "I was joking of course, I know you are loyal, baby. You're not a cheating whore. If you were I wouldn't marry you and if you were I would know. Nothing remains a secret to me. Nothing, Lu. Never forget that. No secrets."

She gave him a sweet smile and squeezed his hand, her heart beating like crazy. "No secrets," she said because she knew that's what he wanted to hear.

Adam gave her an approving nod, obviously content with her answer.

"So, until Lark arrives the day after tomorrow, Big Ben is gonna take care of you."

"What about you, won't you need him?"

Lu was genuinely surprised. Since Eddie's accident, Andy, the third member of their security staff, had taken over his duties. Big Ben was Adam's bodyguard, more than that actually, over the years he had become his right hand, his assistant, his eyes, his ears, his shadow. The middle aged man, with the thin, sparse light blonde hair and the hooked nose that dominated his puffy face with the pasty complexion, was a nice guy on first sight, always very polite and friendly, always up for a joke, but he had something in his watery eyes that scared Lu. Maybe it was because he was so loyally devoted to Adam. Lu had never heard him question any order, he did whatever he was told to and Lu was absolutely convinced he would turn against her in the blink of an eye, if Adam asked him to. She feared him and she didn't trust him and she was quite sure the feeling was mutual.

"I can do without him for two days, right Ben?" He asked the man who was entering the room right then.

"Sir?"

"You'll look after Miss Johnson today and tomorrow and Andy will keep an eye on me."

"Of course," Big Ben nodded with a smile. The nickname was pretty ridiculous, because he was anything but big. He was neither tall nor broad. He was hardly Lu's height and a little overweight but he was tough and a skilled martial arts fighter. He had been pretty successful in his youth, winning various tournaments and he was still very strong and flexible. Lu had watched him doing some Jiu Jiutsu with Adam a few times and it had been impressive to see the stocky guy so agile and light-footed.

"I won't be much of a nuisance, Ben," Lu said, "I will be busy preparing the vernissage for the rest of the week, so we'll be at the gallery most of the time."

"That's fine, Miss Johnson. I like the gallery. I don't know much about art but you have some beautiful paintings there."

***

An hour later Big Ben was looking at one of these paintings and Lu was watching him closely. Something was off, not only today, it had been for a few days. It started with Adam letting Andy stay with her at the gallery all day. That was very unusual. Eddie had always run errands while she had been working or he had washed the car or whatever. She didn't need him around, the gallery was a safe place, nothing bad had ever been happening there. She had asked Andy a few times why it was necessary that he stayed but he'd always said he didn't know and was just following Mr. Mayfield's orders. And now there was Ben, who was obviously trying to pump some kind of information out of her, asking strange questions.

He was subtle, she had to admit that, but just like anyone, including Adam, he underestimated her. He and the rest of the world considered her to be just a blonde bimbo, Adam's arm candy, a classic gold digger and nothing more. She could hardly blame people for thinking that way and actually she even liked flying under the radar. It gave her a certain kind of freedom because nobody was really paying attention to what she did. Adam was the one in the limelight and since she'd never dare to steal his thunder even the yellow press found her too boring to write about her. So she was able to focus on her work and try to make herself a name as a galerist, not as Adam Mayfield's trophy girlfriend.

She knew most people thought she wasn't very clever, but as hard as her youth had been it had given her two very useful skills, street-smartness and the ability to judge character. She had more knowledge of human nature than most women her age and she for sure could tell when someone was trying to hide something from her.

"Eddie liked that painting too," she said with a smile. It was a lie, Eddie had never been taking interest in any of the artwork she presented in her gallery but she wanted to get Ben to talk.

"Really?" A sad look crossed Benjamin's face. He and Eddie had been pretty close and Lu imagined he was mourning his old friend badly.

She gave him a nod and a friendly smile. "You miss him, don't you?"

"Of course, Miss Johnson."

"Lu," she corrected him for the millionth time although she knew he'd continue calling her by her last name. She had no idea why he insisted on this formal way of addressing her, all the other staff members called her by her first name, but since he did the same with Adam she supposed it was just his way of showing respect and keeping a professional distance. "I miss him too. I can't believe he was so irresponsible. He was always such a careful driver, he never even got a ticket for wrong parking."

Big Ben wrinkled his nose. "I'm sure he wasn't acting irresponsibly. It was an accident."

"Well, Adam said he missed a red light because he was distracted by answering his phone. That's pretty irresponsible, if you ask me."

She saw his jaw working and his hands were balled into fists. Her accusations were making him angry and she assumed that meant they were wrong.

"We don't really know what happened. Just what the police file says," he replied with a shrug.

"And you assume that it's not telling the truth?"

"I don't assume anything, Miss Johnson. I believe in the things Mr Mayfield tells me. And so do you, I guess."

"Of course I do," Lu said quickly, dropping the topic, fully aware of the threat that his words involved. She had heard enough anyway.

****

August took a deep breath before he dropped his suitcase on the floor and took a look around. The room -his room- was nice. Big and bright, with large windows and a big bed that appeared to be very comfy. The en suite bathroom was luxurious and gave off spa vibes while the modern paintings and photographs on the walls made the room look like a very stylish and exclusive hotel suite. He liked that, but he had to remind himself that this wasn't a city trip for a weekend, this was his job and his new life.

He had spent the last days slipping on his new personality, becoming John Lark, embracing his alter ego. He grinned when saw his reflection in the window. That mustache and the three day stubble he wore now was an unusual sight but he had to admit he liked the new look, it suited him. August unpacked his suitcase, placing his clothes in the closet and the few personal items John Lark owned in and on the nightstand. A few books, a moleskin and a pen, a jump rope and a pull-up bar for staying in shape and his personal mobile. He had been handed out an official cell phone by that guy called Ben right at the airport where he had picked him up. He put on the watch Lark's mother had given him after high school graduation, his initials engraved on the back. 6:45. Fifteen minutes till dinner. He had been asked to eat with them to meet Mayfield and his Barbie. Miss Johnson. Just be professional, he scolded himself, she's your target.

Don't fuck this up. Kyle's words resonated in his head. This had to be his goddamn creed from now on if he wanted to join Erica Sloane's team at the CIA, and fuck he did. She was infamous for being the toughest and strictest woman at the agency and for being the best. Her team consisted of the most respected and effective agents and that was exactly where he belonged. He wanted to work with the best, he wanted to be top of the class, he intended to become primus inter pares. The best of the best, notorious, feared, valued, celebrated, desired...all those things that had been refused to him throughout his childhood and youth. He had been a victim till he joined the army, a loser, a pussy. Now he was a winner and he would become a champ and claim what he deserved.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Ready, Lark?"

"Coming."

He put on his jacket and straightened the soft brown fabric of his suit. Adjusting the matching tie, taking a deep breath he opened the door and smiled at Ben who just gave him a nod.

"Let's go," he said. "They're waiting."

****

She knew John Lark was trouble the moment she saw him. It was nothing specific that made her feel this way, not his looks or his behaviour, it was more the aura that surrounded him. Lu couldn't quite put a finger on it, but she knew she had to be careful around him right away.

"Mr. Lark...John," Adam greeted his new employee friendly, flashing him a bright smile. "I suppose it's okay to call you John?" Not waiting for an answer he continued while shaking August's hand. "Really nice to meet you. Welcome to your new home."

August returned the smile. "Thank you, Mr. Mayfield. Nice to meet you too."

"Please, call me Adam. There's no need for formalities. After all, we're going to live together, work together…"

Another charming smile. The guy was smooth, August had to admit. He was even more handsome than his picture had suggested, with fine facial features, tall and lean, exuding natural elegance and wit. A charmer and a ladies man for sure.

"This is my fiancee, Lu Johnson." Adam pulled Lu close, wrapping his arm around her shoulder in a possessive manner before kissing her cheek tenderly. He usually wasn't the kind of person who liked public displays of affection but Lu knew it was his way to put John Lark into his place right from the start, to make sure he was aware who she belonged to.

Lark was dangerously good looking and way too attractive for Adam to let it go without staking his claim. Not that Lu was interested in him, he wasn't even her type -too many muscles and probably too little brains- and she would never dare to even look at another man. But objectively he was very good looking, tall and broad shouldered, sharp jawline, a handsome face, outstanding blue eyes, and most of all he had an appeal that obviously hadn't remained hidden to Adam. "She's going to be your charge. I cherish her like life itself. Make sure you do the same when I'm not around."

Mayfield kissed her again and she blushed, obviously feeling uncomfortable being the center of attention.

"John," she said softly, extending her hand to him gracefully with a polite but distant smile on her pretty face. Just like her fiance she was strikingly beautiful but in comparison her beauty was a little steril, forced. She was lacking the naturalness Mayfield owned, maybe because she wasn't born into the social class she lived in now. It felt like she was wearing a mask. Her appearance was too immaculate to be real, too perfect. There had to be a crack in it, nobody was free of flaws, but whatever it was that was lying underneath the sleek, stainless surface, she was hiding it well.

"Miss Johnson." August shook her hand and held her gaze, giving her a smile and a respectful nod.

"Lu, please," she offered stiffly, pointing at the set dining table. "Why don't we sit."

"Yes, darling, you're right. Let's eat before the Beef Wellington gets cold."

***

August found all of his prejudice confirmed during dinner. Mayfield was a cocky prick, who tried to hide his asshole side under a veil of sophistication and British humour. That veil, luckily, was full of holes big enough for August to see right through.

Johnson however was an ice queen. Cool and aloof, not willing to lower herself to talk to the newest member of her royal court. He wanted nothing more than to ignore her, to make her feel that he wasn't in need of her attention, to make it clear that he wasn't attracted to her in any way. It was actually true. She was pretty of course and sexy, too, but the kind of beauty she represented was not his cup of tea. She was one of those ethereal beings who were much too fragile for him, too fanciful, too distant. Like a precious showpiece that was presented on a pedestal and that whispered "look at me" seductively but at the same time it shouted "don't touch…you're not worthy". He needed a woman to be more than beautiful, he liked women that were sturdy and energetic, lively and witty, confident and strong. He didn't want a queen, he wanted an amazon.

So all of this and more made him dislike her, but he still had to be friendly and charming to gain her trust and to make her fond of him without alarming Mayfield. He was obviously very possessive and protective, the jealous-for-no-reason kind of guy who would make his woman wear a chastity belt if it was socially acceptable. To sum it up, this job was a ride on the razor's edge.

"So how do you like your room, John?" Lu turned to him with a friendly smile. Those were the first words she addressed to him since they'd sat down to eat. Adam had engaged Lark in conversation from the very first moment and Lu took care not to interrupt him. He hated it and he'd accuse her of stealing his thunder afterwards for sure. So she kept quiet, trying to blend into the scenery, contenting herself with being not much more than a pretty ornament, decoration like the sculptures that were placed all over the penthouse - a beautiful, silent object. When Adams' phone rang, he took the call with an apologetic smile, leaving the room in a hurry. Now she was forced to make conversation with her new bodyguard and she felt uncomfortable and awkward because she assumed that he didn't like her. He had seen her and he had branded her, just like anybody else, she was quite sure of that.

"It's great, I like the modern style," August said, returning her smile.

"Really? I'm so glad to hear that." Her face lit up in an instant, her lips curling up into a genuine smile. "I refurbished it a few months ago and Eddie... your predecessor… he didn't really like it."

"Oh, why's that?"

Lu took a deep breath before she answered. "I'm not sure, I never asked him. I didn't want to put him on the spot, but I guess it wasn't cosy in his eyes. Not warm enough. He was a very traditional man…," Lu said and her expression softened with her words, her eyes giving away that she had liked the guy, that she was mourning him.

Not the ice queen you pretend to be, August thought surprised.

"Well, I'm not a traditionalist, I like it bright and clear. The black and white photos are really interesting."

"Aren't they?" Lu agreed with excitement that made her voice sound different, like it had just been brought to life. "They are works by a very talented young artist from France. I discovered her art when we were in Paris last year and now I exhibit her photographs in my gallery. People love her unique take on everyday life, the way she plays with light and angles. She's one of my most successful…"

"Don't bore your new guardian angel to death with your art stuff on the very first day, honey," Adam interrupted her chuckling, when he joined them again.

"I was just talking about the pictures in John's room."

"Sure, and those are lovely pictures," he gave her a generous smile and a peck on the cheek, "but we both know you tend to babble on about the topic and that can be a little unnerving."

"Of course, you're right, darling." Lu's mask was back on, her expression blank again. "I'm sorry, John. Sometimes I forget that most people don't share my passion for art. Consider yourself lucky that Adam saved you just in time."

John gave her a nod and a smile. He wanted to say something, feeling the need to let her know that she hadn't been boring him, but before he was able to do so, Adam carried on with their conversation about his new job and his duties and the wasted chance to show his solidarity with her left a bitter taste in John Lark's mouth.

*******

Taglist (let me know if you want to be added or removed)

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[cremelatte]

— 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞 —

᯽. Mocha (not IRL name)

᯽. She/her

᯽. Minor

᯽. Straight

᯽. Asian

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᯽. 2w1 Dominant . 269 Tritype (2w1 6w7 9w1)

᯽. Phlegmatic Melancholics

᯽. Hufflepuff Dominant . Ravenpuff / Gryffinpuff

᯽. Pukwudgie / Thunderbird

᯽. Neutral Good (based on my opinion) / Lawful Good (based on my mostly quizzes results)

᯽. Taurus Sun . Libra Moon . Cancer Rising . Taurus Mercury . Aries Venus . Cancer Mars

᯽. Multifandom

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᯽. Has too many ships

᯽. Secretly a lame fanfiction/story writer

᯽. A Blink

᯽. @ukiyopuffle's older sister

ꗃ. hobbies — !

᯽. Hanging out with family and/or friends

᯽. Singing

᯽. Reading books (any kind of books except textbooks 🙄)

᯽. Watching movies or series

᯽. Hearing music and/or songs

᯽. Writing stories (digitally)

᯽. Daydreaming

᯽. Shipping fictional characters (Matchmaking)

᯽. Helping my mom baking and/or cooking

᯽. Making moodboards (literally they're horrible)

᯽. Editing and drawing (sometimes)

᯽. Learning new yet interesting things

᯽. Etc

ꗃ. loves — !

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᯽. My friends and mutuals <3

᯽. My followers and supporters <3

᯽. My idols <3

᯽. HUGS

᯽. Aesthetics (favorites: Light Academia . Dark Academia . Romantic Academia . Classic Academia . Cottagecore . Green Aesthetic . Softcore . Ethereal . Art Hoe . Royaltycore . Japanese Aesthetic . Korean Aesthetic . Cozycore . Angelcore . etc)

᯽. Moodboards

᯽. Arts

᯽. Musics

᯽. Writings & Books

᯽. Fantasy . Comedy . Adventure . Mystery / Detective . Animation . Musical . Romance . and Action genres

᯽. Fluff and Hurt/Comfort tropes

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᯽. Harry Potter

᯽. Animes (currently watch: Kimetsu no Yaiba / Demon Slayer and Detective Conan / Case Closed)

᯽. K-POPs (current favorite: BLACKPINK)

᯽. Incorrect quotes

᯽. Memes (ofc)

᯽. Holidays (who doesn't?)

᯽. Etc

ꗃ. hates — !

᯽. Losing my loved ones

᯽. Abuse

᯽. Racism

᯽. Plagiarism

᯽. Rude and bad people

᯽. Betrayal

᯽. Harsh criticism

᯽. Getting ignored

᯽. Being alone

᯽. Horror and Thriller genres

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᯽. Etc

ꗃ. misc — !

᯽. The username is made from “creme” (which means cream in French) and “latte”, making them into “@cremelatte” which means latte cream / creamy latte <3

᯽. Birthday: April 20th

᯽. Height: 154 cm

᯽. Weight: 48 kg

᯽. Ethnicity: Chinese

᯽. Religion: Christian

᯽. Favorite Colors: White . Beige . Brown . Gold . Black . Blue (mostly Baby Blue) . Green . Peach . Yellow . Pink (mostly Baby Pink) . Red . Purple (Lavender and Violet) . Silver . etc

᯽. Favorite Foods: can't decide 💀✋ but some of my favorites are Pastries . Desserts . Snacks . Sweet foods . Salty foods . Cheese and Chocolate related foods :)

᯽. Favorite Drinks: also can't decide ASVSISJWHSJ- yet, some of my favorites are Water (ofc!) . Milk . Tea . Machiatto . Mocha! . Coffee . Milkshakes . Juice . and Hot/Cold Chocolate! :D

᯽. Favorite Animals: Dogs (especially Shiba Inu, Golden Retriever, Husky, Samoyed, Pomeranian . Teacup Pomeranian . Maltese . and Corgi) . Bunnies . Cats (except Egyptian Cats — the hairless cats — I don't why but they look weird in my opinion-) . Dolphins . Hamsters . Birds (I love Hummingbird . Dove . Sparrow . and Birds of Paradise the most!) . Panda . Koalas . Tigers . Lion . Sheeps . etc

᯽. Favorite Flowers: Cherry Blossom . Rose . Dandelion . Tulips . Wisteria . Lavenders . Bluebell . Daisies . Sunflower . etc

᯽. Favorite Countries (based on their scenery): Japan . Korea . Hong Kong . France . Indonesia . USA . England . Italy . etc

᯽. Favorite Scents: Petrichor . Coffee . Foods (mostly baked, such as cookies) . Flowers . Books (new and old) . Soaps (sometimes) . etc

᯽. Favorite Season: all of them, but mostly Spring!

᯽. Favorite Anime of all the time (and only what I've watched): Demon Slayer / Kimetsu no Yaiba . Detective Conan / Cased Closed . Naruto . Ghibli Movies . and Sailor Moon!

᯽. Etc (will added some things if I found anything new! <3)

ꗃ. PS — !

If you want to know more about me, then you can see through my tag, #facts about me! :)

[cozy-the-overlord]

Just One Last Word

Summary: As children, she swore she'd become the greatest author in all of Asgard. Loki had his doubts.

Word Count: 4,360

Pairing: Loki x OFC

A/N: Look who's back! I got this idea from a made-up fic title sent to me by an anon a while back and I just loved the concept so much I had to write it. What can I say? I’m a glutton for childhood romance and angst

Thanks for reading! :)

Warnings: Implied/referenced domestic violence/child abuse

Tags: @lucywrites02 @gaitwae @whatafuckingdumbass @the-emo-asgardian

If you want to be tagged, feel free to send an ask/message :)

Read it on Ao3!

The first time Loki heard about Sága’s extraordinary book was the day Lady Gudrun decided that the spring weather was just too lovely to ignore and took her literature students to give them their lessons in the gardens rather than the stuffy palace classrooms. He couldn’t quite recall what year they were—childhood seemed so long ago that all of his primary classes had melted into one amorphous blur—but they had to have been young because Sága hadn’t yet chopped off both her braids in the middle of arithmetic, claiming that they were too heavy to think properly whilst wearing them. No, her braids still hung at her shoulders, and as Lady Gudrun read aloud to them on the lawn, Sága was busy weaving dandelion flowers into their intricate patterns.

“This is going in my book!” she whispered to Loki with a grin. “In my book, all the girls wear dandelions in their hair.”

Loki frowned. “What book?”

“The one I’m writing,” she said, fiddling with another flower stem. “It’s going to be the best book in all of Asgard.”

He had been going to say that there was no way in all the realms she was capable of writing the best book in all of Asgard, but then Lady Gudrun asked them if there was something they wanted to share with the rest of their classmates, since they seemed to be having such an intriguing conversation by themselves, and Loki had shaken his head, blushing. Sága wasn’t bothered. She kept playing with her dandelions and humming softly to herself, some horrifically out of tune melody Loki was almost positive she was just making up as she went along.

Sága Svanhilddottir was a strange girl. One day she had just plopped her bulging crocheted bookbag onto the desk next to his, and she never really went away. There were plenty of whispers about her—her mother was an Asgardian noble who had run away to Alfheim to marry a man in the Elvish court, only to return nine years later with a child in her arms and no husband to be found. At dinner, Loki would overhear the noblewomen’s hushed speculations on what could possessed her to leave in the first place, and what prompted her return. How had the Elf bewitched her so? A love potion? A spell? Had she gotten with child and fled to preserve her dignity? But then why return? Was he unfaithful? Was she unfaithful?

Sága had her own story. She told Loki very seriously before class one day that her mother had come back to Asgard because her father had been turned into a dragon by a wicked witch and now every time he sneezed he spat out enormous balls of fire into the air, and that her mother was afraid that the next time he caught a cold he’d burn the whole apartment down. She pulled down her dress sleeve to show Loki her burn scar, angry red flesh that stretched from her wrist all the way across her shoulders—a scar, she explained, she had gotten when she had tried to give her dragon father a handkerchief.

Loki didn’t believe her.

“Witches don’t turn people into dragons,” he bristled. “My mother’s a witch, and she would never turn anyone into a dragon.”

“That’s because your mother’s a nice witch,” Sága explained impatiently. “This was a mean old witch, with pointy teeth and spiky hair, who hated everybody.” Ruffling her shorn locks (this was after the ill-fated math lesson), she bared her teeth in demonstration. “She was mad at my father because he forgot to bring her mousetail pudding for her birthday like he promised.”

“He—what?”

But Sága only waved him off dismissively. “You’ll have to read my book,” she said. “I explain it all there.”

Oh, that damn book. It seemed like it was the only thing she ever talked about, this stupid, imaginary book. Because it had to be imaginary. Loki had never even seen the girl hold a pen, let alone write a sentence. No, she was too busy prattling on about her wonderous book, this book that would one day become the pinnacle of Asgardian literature.

“Someday, they’ll be making students read my book instead of this nonsense,” she’d whisper to Loki as their teacher read to them in the front of the classroom. “It’ll be much more interesting.”

Or when he ran into her in the library, and she’d drag him to the shelf where they kept all the classics.

“This is where they’ll keep my book!” she’d grin, having the audacity to pat the dusty wood where the great authors of millennia long past rested.

And then there was that one time during one of the feasts, when he turned around to find her staring at him intently from across the ballroom, a studious expression on her face. He shot what he hoped was an intimidating glare at her, but she only skipped across the room to join him.

“What are you doing?” he asked sourly.

“Looking at you,” she said, grinning as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I need to remember how you look like, so I can put you in my book.”

Loki scowled. “I don’t want to be in your book.”

“Well, I want you in it,” Sága retorted. “And, since I’m the author, that’s all that matters.” She grabbed his hand and began pulling him towards the dessert table. “Come on, Prince Loki. Let’s get some cake!”

Thor said that he must be harboring a crush on her, to seemingly hate her so and yet be constantly spending time with her. Loki nearly threw a fit when he accused him of such at the dinner table. He didn’t like Sága. She was strange and irritating and talked far too much and he wanted her to go away. He spent time with her because she followed him around, not because he wanted to! She was annoying. And weird. And …

And yet.

One day she wasn’t in class. Loki thought he’d be relieved—finally, a lesson where he could listen to the teacher without having to filter out her constant chatter. But … it didn’t feel right. It was too quiet—he hated the empty stretches of silence that hung over the classroom every time Lady Gudrun stopped talking. For some reason, it seemed even more difficult to focus without the familiar presence of his deskmate hunched over the table and picking splinters out of the wood with her fingernail.

The library was more of the same. Loki perused the shelves, gaze lingering on the spot Sága had claimed for her own. She was the only person he really talked to, he realized. Without her, the day felt hollow.

She was gone for the rest of the week. Her mother was gone too, and rumors began to fly that she had decided to take her daughter back to Alfheim to rejoin her mysterious husband. Loki couldn’t help but remember her story about her father the dragon.

Just when he was starting to fear she had left for good, one morning a ratty old crotched bag smacked the desk next to his before class started.

He scowled to mask his sigh of relief. “Where have you been?”

But Sága wouldn’t say. She only grinned at him from under her crown of dandelions. “I was working on my book. Why?” she asked. “Did you miss me, Prince Loki?”

Loki flushed bright red.

It was strange to think about now, with everything that had happened. At the time, Loki thought he would have fallen on his sword before he ever referred to Sága as a friend. And yet, she was not only a friend, but the closest one he had. She continued finding ways to spend time with him even after they graduated Lady Gudrun’s class—she’d track him down and ask him for help with her arithmetic, or to wish him luck on an upcoming test, or to tell him about a book she thought he’d like. Thor and his companions drove Loki up the wall with their merciless teasing, but their words couldn’t quell the odd sort of fluttering in his stomach every time she came running up to him clutching some new story against her chest.

“Is it your book?” he’d ask jokingly, even as he took the novel from her hands.

“No,” she laughed. “I’m still working on that.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you now?”

Sága patted his shoulder, still grinning. “Don’t worry,” she said. “When I’m done, you’ll be the first to read it.”

She was pretty. Loki wasn’t quite certain when that happened. Sága didn’t really change all that much, even as everyone else grew and morphed into something resembling maturity. She continued cutting her own hair, keeping it messy and uneven and even shorter than his. She’d weave dandelion stalks into the shorn clumps and walk around in gauzy yellow dresses with cuffed sleeves that went past her fingers, looking like one of her fairy-story creatures come to life. It was generally accepted that she looked ridiculous, and Loki didn’t disagree. He just felt that she made ridiculous look good.

He noticed it when she came down to the sparring pit to watch him practice with his daggers. There she was, perched on the railing, beaming like the sun as she waved at him. She was pretty. Very pretty.

Loki turned around without waving back. There was a heat rising in his cheeks that he wasn’t quite sure how to address. He missed the target completely on his next throw.

He wasn’t the only person who noticed. The other boys his age were beginning to be quite drawn to Sága Svanhilddottir as well, although Loki suspected it was less due to actual interest and more because of her proclivity for disregarding traditional decorum. She loved to dance. It seemed every ball she was spinning across the floor in the arms of some new beau, giggling so loudly that her voice echoed down the hall. Loki hated the way they’d hold her, gripping her tightly to their bodies as if she belonged to them, but Sága didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it. She’d laugh and whoop and make a show of it as they twirled through the song.

It might have made her popular with the young men, but older members of the court weren’t as amused. After all, such displays weren’t exactly becoming of an unmarried woman. But Sága didn’t mind that they whispered things like “promiscuous” and “loose” as she walked by. Unlike her fellow ladies, Sága wasn’t particularly interested in catching a husband. In fact, she once told Loki in no uncertain terms that she had no intentions of ever giving her hand in marriage.

“Marriage is horrible,” she said. Loki could barely hear her over the ruckus—it was Thor’s Nameday Feast, and such a raucous celebration was hardly ideal for intimate conversation. He thought Sága might have been enjoying the festivities a bit too much as well—she was swaying on her feet as she leaned in to speak. “You’re tied down forever to some person, and you don’t even know what they’re going to be like! Sure, they might seem nice, but who knows!” She hiccupped, and Loki found himself reaching out to steady her without realizing he was doing it, accidentally grabbing the shoulder he knew to be scarred under her sleeve.

Sága brushed him off. There was a bitterness in her eyes that made his chest ache. “I don’t want to get married,” she said. “I just want to have fun.”

He walked her back to her rooms that night. He had started doing that recently—partially because with the way she was staggering he didn’t trust her to be able to make it herself, and partially because the voracious looks some of her dance partners had been giving her were making the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up.

Sága grinned at him when they made it back to her door. The dandelions in her hair were beginning to wilt. One was nearly falling off her head, held there only by a tangled strand.

“Are you going to kiss me, Prince Loki?” she asked.

Loki started. All at once, the fluttering was back. “What?”

“You’re my prince, aren’t you?” She was swaying quite a bit, but she didn’t look away. Her breath stank of wine. “Aren’t you supposed to kiss the lady goodnight?” She leaned forward as if meaning to demonstrate, but ended up falling right into his chest, giggling all the way. Loki caught her, hoping she couldn’t hear how fast his heart was beating.

My prince.

“I—I don’t think it would be very princely of me to kiss you right now,” he whispered.

“Maybe not,” she yawned against his armor. “But I’d like it anyways.”

Loki inhaled. I’d like it too. But she was drunk, practically incoherent—she didn’t mean any of the words coming out of her mouth right now, and he knew it.

And so, he helped her back up and through the doorway. “Not tonight.”

Sága perked up. “Tomorrow?”

She looked so childishly excited that Loki couldn’t hold back his chuckle. “Sure. Tomorrow.” Maybe he had had too much wine as well, because the thought of such a silly promise exhilarated him far more than it should have. “You come find me and I’ll kiss you.”

They never spoke about that night again. Sága didn’t seem to remember it—when he ran into her the next day she was nursing a headache and a new idea for her book and wanted to ask him a question about the mechanics of water seidr. Loki didn’t mention it either. The whole thing felt much sillier doused in daylight. What, did he think she was just going to knock on his door and cash in a kiss like a raffle ticket? No, it was better that the whole thing just fade into obscurity. Loki told himself he was relieved that Sága didn’t remember his promise.

It didn’t stop his thoughts from racing every time he saw her.

What would it be like to kiss her, he wondered? Would she let him pull her close? Would she wrap her arms around his neck and run her fingers through his hair? How would it feel to press his lips to hers, to close his eyes and just drink her in as if she were the only thing that existed?

He wished he could find out.

Loki remembered the last time he saw her. Her father had passed away, and she and her mother were returning to Alfheim for his funeral and to clear up several issues regarding his estate. They weren’t sure how long they’d be gone, but Sága predicted that the legal affairs would take years to resolve.

“Is it bad that I don’t want to go?” she asked in a whisper the night before she was set to leave. Loki looked at her, huddled against the balcony railing besides him. Inside, the feast raged on, but in the moonlight the world seemed almost tranquil.

“I don’t think it’s bad,” he said slowly. “Funerals aren’t exactly joyful occasions. I doubt anyone ever wants to go to them.”

She was silent for a moment, staring across the gardens spread beneath them. “I was happy when they told me he was dead,” she said finally, voice hoarse. “That’s bad, isn’t it? You’re not supposed to be happy because your father’s dead.”

Loki wasn’t sure what to say to that. He didn’t know much about Sága’s father—she almost never spoke of him, and Loki never asked—but he never could quite forget the stories she would tell when they were children, about witches and dragons and violent, fiery breath.

He inhaled. “I don’t think that’s bad either.” A part of him wanted to reach out and squeeze her hand, but he wasn’t sure if that was right. “If he was a good father, you’d feel differently. But he wasn’t, and you don’t. That’s all there is to it.”

Sága only nodded.

The next morning was less somber. When Sága came to say goodbye, she seemed her normal, airy self, bouncing and bubbling over every small detail.

“Hopefully, by the time I’m back, I’ll have my book done!” she beamed. “And I’ll bring it back for you to read!”

“Well, in that case, I’ll be counting the seconds,” he drawled. Sága laughed, and he found himself gazing into her eyes. They were lovely, those eyes—warm, like liquid amber, brown and sparkling with mirth. He had never really stopped to think about it before, but she had to have the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.

Perhaps he was staring too intently, because Sága had stopped laughing. Loki felt his cheeks flush. He was about to apologize when she threw her arms around his shoulders.

He was so thrown off by the embrace that he couldn’t really comprehend what had happened until after she had let go. It was a quick hug, spur of the moment and over as soon as it began. It meant nothing.

Still there was something in the air as Sága pulled away, something he didn’t think either of them had the capability to describe. She patted his shoulder, nodding as if in agreement with something neither of them had said.

“Goodbye, Prince Loki,” she said thickly.

He nodded too. “Goodbye, Sága.”

It was the last time he saw her.

Loki stared at the book on the table. He had told his mother that he didn’t want any more books—he was beginning to feel less like a person and more like a pity case with each shipment she sent in.

Enough with it! Just let me rot in peace.

And she had agreed. The flood of books had ceased.

Except for this one.

He hadn’t heard them come in to drop it off, which was concerning. Loki had always been a light sleeper, and that had increased a hundredfold by the time he had returned to Asgard. He wondered if they were drugging him.

The book itself was crisp and clean—freshly bound. He always used to like those books as a child, so new that the spine let out a satisfying crack as he opened them for the first time. Now, he was almost afraid to touch it.

The mossy green cover was unassuming. No artwork, no patterns, just the title and author in simple gold lettering.

Dandelion

Sága Svanhilddottir

Loki didn’t know how long he stared at it. The dungeons made it hard to keep track of time in general, but in that moment it felt as if everything around him ceased to exist. He couldn’t tear his eyes from it.

Damn. She actually did it.

Sága … when was the last time he thought of Sága? She seemed to exist in a different lifetime, a character in a story that had long since been shelved. He remembered her, though—a scrawny little girl on the grass, weaving yellow flowers through her braids.

In my book, all the girls wear dandelions in their hair.

He picked it up. It wasn’t particularly heavy, nor particularly thick—certainly nothing like the texts of old she had once proclaimed herself equal to. It appeared quite average, really. Maybe he wouldn’t read it. The whole thing was birthed out of a childish fancy, and he no longer held any appreciation for fairy-stories.

But who was he kidding?

The story was about a girl named Dandelion (Loki groaned aloud upon reading it, although such puerility was to be expected from an author who went about her days with weeds dangling from her hair) who lived with her mother and her beast of  a father off in some nonexistent realm, far away from Asgard. While her father had not the form of a dragon, he certainly had the temperament. He spent the days raging about their household, ranting and raving at every little inconvenience until he’d worked himself up into a violent frenzy.

Her mother didn’t know what to do. She was alone in a strange land, having forfeited her freedom to irrevocably tie herself to this monster of a man. She had nowhere to go, no family to turn to. And so she grit her teeth and took the beatings and the curses and prayed for a miracle.

Of course, little Dandelion was too young to understand this. She didn’t know why her mother cried herself to sleep at night, nor could she comprehend the foulness of the words that her father spat into the air. She had never known anything else. And so, every night she sat upon her father’s knee as he brushed out and braided her long, silky hair and read aloud to her from his rotted old storybook. Dandelion loved those stories, of monstrous dragons and evil witches who feasted on rats and tarantulas, fair maidens locked away in towers and dashing princes fighting their way through bramble-choked woods to awaken them with a kiss.

She’d dream about those stories as she lay in bed, writing her own in her head to drown out the crashes and cries ricocheting off the walls on the floor below her. In her mind’s eye, Dandelion could see herself as the maiden, nose pressed against the window as she waited for her prince to scale her tower and carry her to safety.

He never came.

But she was not long for this way of life. One night, during dinner, her father in a fit of anger overturned the candle on the tablecloth. The fabric went up in flames. They spread fast across the table and caught on Dandelion’s cuff, setting her sleeve ablaze. She survived—her father was quick to come to his senses and douse the flames—but her arm was badly burned. It was at that moment that her mother had had enough. She took her daughter and ran for it.

After a long struggle to secure the funds they needed, they were able to book passage back to her mother’s home realm. There, they found sanctuary.

She found something else there too. There, sitting in the very back row of the classroom with his head hidden behind a book, was a real, living, breathing prince. Dandelion was entranced—she had always thought princes to be some mythical creature that existed only within the pages of storybook. And yet, here was one right in front of her, like the most normal thing in the world. He didn’t seem very princely. He just seemed like a boy, a quiet boy who preferred reading to conversation. Dandelion would have never known him to be anything else if her mother hadn’t pointed him out to her.

But she was curious, and so when given the opportunity to choose her spot, she sat down next to him. He was a strange prince. He’d argue with her about the stories she told, but that only meant he was listening to her. He’d say he didn’t want to see her when she bumped into him outside of class, but he’d still follow her down the hall when she turned to leave. He didn’t strike her as the dragon-slaying tower-scaling type, but that was okay. Dandelion liked him just the way he was.

The story went on. Dandelion grew up to the whooshing of letters slipped under the door—her dragon father, asking her mother to come back, to come home, promising that he was different and everything would be all right. There were times when her mother seemed almost swayed by his sweet words—she’d sigh and say that it would be nice to see their family safe and back together again and stare off into the distance as if remembering something other than the screaming or the fighting or the burning, as if she had forgotten the way Dandelion would wake screaming in the night convinced she could smell her flesh burning. It sent cold shivers down Dandelion’s spine. She began tossing the letters into the fire before her mother had the chance to read them.

She’d turn to her prince for comfort. He didn’t know about the letters, but somehow, he made her feel better all the same. He was light and safe and everything she needed—she always seemed to be laughing when she was with him. And when he laughed—something about that laugh made Dandelion’s chest feel awash with a lovely sort of warmth.

She was in love with him.

But Dandelion didn’t say anything about that. She knew he only saw her as a friend—a silly, trivial friend who he could tease and laugh with without having to concern himself with the solemnity of his station. If he knew how she felt … she could lose him entirely. Dandelion couldn’t face such a prospect.

Instead, she danced with everyone but her prince, drowned herself in wine and spent her nights in the arms of any faceless man who wanted her, all in some vain attempt to sway her feelings in another direction. It only made things worse.

But life went on. Another letter came in from the realm of her birth, written in a different hand than usual. Her father had passed in his sleep, it explained. At long last, the dragon had been defeated. Dandelion was to return home immediately. And so, she bid her prince a friendly farewell.

The fallout of her father’s death was horrifically complicated. She was his legal heir, but she had also spent a majority of her life estranged from him and she found his representatives unwilling to hand over control of his estate to her. It was years before she could come back. And when she did—

Loki couldn’t bring himself to finish it. He knew very well what “Dandelion” found when she returned to Asgard—or more aptly, what she didn’t find.

You’re my prince, aren’t you?

He wished he had kissed her.

[7spaceace7]

Ego Holiday Headcanons

Haven’t decided if I’ll make more after this, but here’s some festive headcanons for the Septic boys! (tagging as Yuletube for my submission for the past two missed days, hope that’s alright!)

Henrik Von Schneeplestein

-The host of the Septic Ego Holiday Celebration (est. 2017)

-STRESSED

-If he wasn’t stressed enough by being a doctor (and parent lmao), HE IS NOW

-Getting all the egos together for the holidays and making sure they DON’T kill each other?? Someone give this man an award

-Everyone keeping their limbs would be his only Christmas wish

-He does not get said Christmas wish (see: Robbie)

-Switches up his black coffee for coffee with peppermint creamer

-Chase eventually hooks him on peppermint tea instead, he knows the Doc needs sleep

-Can be found humming along to the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy as he cooks holiday dinner

-Definitely has a “kiss the cook” apron

-Chase crossed out the “the” on it with “zhe” in sharpie

-Day 5, Schneep still hasn’t noticed

-Loves it, but still wears his doctor coat on top of it

-Gets very cold easily, so the fire is always burning

-Has a nutcracker collection

-It’s getting out of hand

Chase Brody

-Holidays are,,, hard for him

-Still sends his kids cards and presents, never actually knowing if they get them or not

-They do, I promise

-Wasn’t originally keen on celebrating with everyone, he has a tendency to self-isolate

-But once he gets there, he’s glad he did

-IMMEDIATELY tackled in a hug from Jackie

-”YOU’RE HERE!! Couldn’t start without you, dude!”

-Everyone else smiles and gives the appropriate hug

-(Anti does not, but no eye roll this time at least)

-Absolutely loves warm apple cider and has a good recipe to make his own

-Favorite Christmas movie is Elf, no I do not take criticism

-Has a soft spot for Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas though because of his kids

-Holiday puns, you CANNOT get this man to shut up with the puns

- “Where’s Anti?” “Up to SNOW good! There’s SNOW way we can REIN him in now!”

-Once it snows, this boy is sledding down every hill in SIGHT

-Teaches Robbie how to catch snowflakes on his tongue

-Marvin makes him a “World’s Best Dad” sweater

-He totally cries and does not take it off the rest of the season

Jackieboy Man

-Christmas is his favorite holiday

-Good luck getting him to sit still around this time

-Has super strength, so he doesn’t quite have the same “don’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself” factor that everyone else does??

-Nearly giving Henrik a heart attack everytime he moves, but make it Festive™

-”Guys it’s snowing!!” “JACKIE GET ZHE FAHK OFF ZHE RAILING”

-Slides down the stairs anyway

-Marvin made him a whole ass “ugly supersuit” instead of just a sweater

-It is a w f u l, but on purpose

-Ofc Jackie adores the shit out of it

-Loves snowball fights!

-Always gets targeted by Anti tho

-Eventually it turns into a snowball war

-Pulls Chase over to tag team him, then discovers Marvin has an alliance with Anti

-They will be here a while

-Time to break out the reindeer-themed boxers

-They go along perfectly with his red and blue sweater-suit

-Eventually able to settle down when it gets dark out, bonus points if there’s hot chocolate involved (courtesy of JJ)

-Don’t forget the marshmallows

-Wants to help everybody out with their plans, always does his best

-Even if his best includes falling off a roof

Marvin the Magnificent

-Made everyone sweaters, even Anti

-Spent too much time on the design parts to make em perfect, so he had to rush getting them all sewn

-Uses his magic to sew like three at once

-December 1st, 12:00am is when the Christmas music starts

-Mariah Carey impressions that slowly get higher as the month goes on

-Performs a “Let It Go” rendition that could rival Idina’s during christmas karaoke night

-Switches his regular mask for his holiday one with snowflakes instead of card suits on it

-The decorating master, with JJ as his apprentice

-Favorite part is designing for the lights outside

-Learned a spell to make it look like it’s snowing inside

-Forgot to learn the spell to make it stop snowing inside

-Ended up just sticking with those paper snowflakes dangling on the ceiling

-Asks Jackie for help with the lights on the roof, not because he can’t easily do it himself, he just knows that Jackie likes to help and this is the one thing he knows he can’t break

-Did not expect Jackie to break himself by falling off the roof instead

-Ends up finishing the lights with his magic anyway (after he untangles his boyfriend from the lights, that is)

-Can and will destroy Jackie during snowball fights just because he can

Jameson Jackson

-THIS BOY oh this boy

-Brings out the classic holiday music and sets it up on the gramophone

-LOVES making up dances to the music

-May be a classic boy, but his guilty pleasure is Michael Buble

-(Robbie calls him bubbles whenever he comes on)

-Goes ALL OUT with the holiday baking

-Cookies of all kinds, homemade gingerbread for the houses, so many pies, even learns how to bake his own bread

-Everyone agrees that his pumpkin bread is the best

-Anti especially loves the cherry pie for “aesthetic purposes”

-Has a whole “Twas the Night Before Christmas” puppet show routine

-His job is making the decorations while Marvin sets them all up, it’s a great dynamic

-Definitely makes those traditional popcorn garlands for the tree

-for some reason puts an orange in his stocking?? The others are confused, but he’s so excited so they just let him do his thing

-Now everyone has oranges in their stockings

-They still don’t know what it means

Antisepticeye

-Die Hard is a Christmas movie, dammit!

- “Grinch Bitch” is what his sweater from Marvin says

-Secretly likes it, but fuck off

-Wears it to sleep every night in Winter

-You know that thing where cats get under Christmas trees and swat at the ornaments? Yeah that’s him

-Loves the white elephant gift game

-Ends up getting a present and it’s a turtle

-His name is knives

-KING OF SNOWBALL FIGHTS

-Fills his snowballs with fake blood so they explode on people

- (at least we hope its fake)

-If it doesn’t snow enough, he is the bitch who throws water balloons instead

-Henrik still has work leading up to Christmas, so Anti listens to him rant when he gets home

-Christmas patients are fuckin crazy and he loves it

-One time fell asleep and woke up with a red nose and antlers

-Chase was never safe after that

-Kept the antlers though, they jingle

-Saved them all from Chase’s puns that day

- “Where’s Anti?” *distant, staticky jingling* “Ah there he is”

Robbie the Zombie

-LIGHTS...pretty lights…

-He loves the lights, and will try to eat them if you’re not careful

-Says they’re static candy

-Doesn’t get cold because he can’t feel it, so he often wanders around in the snow

-One time he came home without his left foot and Schneep nearly had a heart attack

-Turns out it froze in the snow and snapped off his leg

-The Great Foot Search Party of 2020

-Please don’t forget to bundle this boy up before going out

-Anti has knitted him a hat and scarf for just this reason

-Henrik was the Proudest Dad that day

-Totally gets to put the star on the Christmas tree every year

-Marvin levitates him high enough

-Favorite holiday movie is The Polar Express

-One time JJ came out with his signature hot cocoa during the movie scene and Robbie was THRILLED

-Talking almost knocked him over thrilled

-Tries to sing along to holiday music, the lyrics don’t work out much

-Really good at keeping a beat though

-Marvin made him a sweater with bells on it

-Adores the bells, flaps the too long sleeves to make them jingle

Shawn Flynn

-Likes Christmas, but like lowkey

-He’s a toymaker!!! He makes adorable toys for all the egos as their presents from him!!

-Didn’t really have a family to go back to in his days at Joey Drew Studios, so he was used to spending Christmas alone, usually working

-NOT ANYMORE!

-Now he has Too Much Family (but in the good way)

-Absolutely gets nicknamed Scrooge at first, probably because he really likes A Christmas Carol and he’s a grump

-Often can be found being pulled off to dance by the gramophone with JJ

-He’s got two left feet, but JJ doesn’t really care

-If anyone still believes in Santa, even just a little bit, it’s because of him

-Has a giant red sack that he fills up with toys he’s made and/or the ones no one could sell back at the studios and donates them to orphanages

-Usually sticks to his old timey clothes, but when he does wear modern Christmas attire like the sweaters, he has,,,no idea how to match things

-It’s ‘cause he’s red/green colorblind

-once asked why Marvin had “yellow” hair

-JJ makes sure that his decorations have lots of blues so it’s not so much strain on his eyes